Shotgun Ammunition Types
}}For non-shotgun ammunition, see Ammunition Types. Shotguns have access to a multitude of different ammunition types exclusive to their class. All shotguns in-game have access to these, including the Serbu Shotgun, Sawed Off, and Saiga-12U. One may find the different ammunition types in the Other category in the shotgun's Attachments section. There are four different types of ammunition: Buckshot, Birdshot, Flechette and Slugs. The effectiveness of each ammunition type is different for each shotgun. Each shell is distinguished by the different color of the shell. Buckshot History The tactical buckshot is the main and standard shotgun shell used by many military forces, special forces and law enforcement forces around the world. The tactical buckshot fires eight to fourteen hardened 00 (8.4mm) pellets, depending on the load. The main purpose of the buckshot is to increase the hit chance, not the accuracy, of each shot. All of the pellets can hit a human size target at 25m, but it can cause lethal wounds at up to 70m. The tactical buckshot has low penetration, making it unable to pierce soft armor, along with the capability to pierce wooden doors or standard drywall. This shell is also used by hunters for hunting medium to big game. In-game The buckshot is the default load of all shotguns and fires 8 powerful pellets at once. It is most effective at close to medium range. Depending on the base statistics of the weapon, the effectiveness of this shell varies between weapons. Generally, the buckshot is very deadly at close range. It can reliably kill a full health opponent in one shot up to 60 to 70 studs, and up to about 30 studs for the Serbu Shotgun. At medium range (less than 150 studs) the buckshot requires about 2 to 3 shots to eliminate an enemy. However, in combat, a target may not be at full health, so one-shot kills (1SKs) at this range are still possible. At longer ranges, the buckshot becomes less effective as the pellets spread very wide and drop heavily due to the lower velocity. The user will likely get killed if they try to engage a target at this range. Buckshot also has a slightly larger spread than the Flechette round. However, a firearm such as the SPAS-12, with its range and damage, will still find Buckshot useful. At a very long range (300+ studs), the pellets retain minimal damage, and may be able to kill low health enemies. However, this is very unreliable and therefore cannot be called effective. It should be only used as a last resort if the user does not have a secondary firearm capable of reaching out further than the user's shotgun, which is highly unlikely, but still a possibility, such as in the case of a Serbu or Sawed-off. Usage As Buckshot is the standard shotgun round, it should be used as a standard shotgun was made to be used: efficiently clearing out enemies at close to medium range, and avoiding engagement at long ranges. Flechette The Flechette round consists of tiny darts that can easily penetrate through objects such as walls. History Flechettes were designed and tested during the Vietnam war by the U.S. Army. The purpose of the flechette (literally "dart" in French) is to pierce through materials like the slug shot, but still retain the effectiveness of buckshot. A 12 gauge shotgun shell can contain 8 to 20 darts, depending on the load. The flechette is very effective against armored targets, able to pierce the regular police bullet resistant vest or punch through to a target behind a thin cover of wood or drywall. However, the flechette has not been officially adopted by the military due to the over-penetration to unarmored targets, often leading to unwanted property damage, death or injury to allies and civilians. The expensive price of these shells is also a notable reason. The only time Flechette shells would possibly be used by any military force is when collateral damage is not a concern, and the opposition is wearing heavy body armor. Still, gun enthusiasts still improvise their own flechette shot and sell them at very expensive prices. In-Game The flechette fires multiple projectiles like the buckshot. However, the projectiles of the flechette round can go through walls of a certain thickness. Its purpose is to hit targets behind cover like walls, such as the ones in Warehouse, and concrete slabs, like in Ravod 911. This shell also has slightly less spread than buckshot. The flechette does statistically less damage than the buckshot, but the reduction is very slight and only affects the maximum damage, so it does not affect the effectiveness of this shell comparing to the standard buckshot at any range. This shell increases the damage range but this change is not very significant. Therefore, the flechette can be considered as a straight upgrade of the buckshot shell, if not taking into account the decreased pellet count. Note: -Red color signifies inferior to the standard load. -Green color signifies superior to the standard load. -White color signifies the same to the standard load. Usage Flechette rounds largely serve the same purpose as buckshot, albeit with a tighter spread and penetration capabilities at the cost of damage. This has the potential to greatly improve a shotgun's 1SK range, or hinder it if the shotgun is more reliant on damage up close for a kill. As such, it is best used on weapons where it will not decrease the number of pellets required to kill a target (such as the Remington 870 and DBV12). For tighter spread and greater velocity, the effective range of flechette rounds is increased by a slight amount compared to buckshot, and is therefore more helpful in extending effective range, while also maintaining the shotgun playstyle. Birdshot The birdshot round is made up of smaller pellets that allows more shot to be fired per round. History Like the buckshot, the birdshot fires multiple projectiles. The pellets of the birdshot are smaller, weaker and have a lower penetration capacity, but are more numerous. Birdshot is also used to increase the hit chance rather than accuracy. This round is mainly used by hunters for hunting small prey (snakes, rats, birds, etc) in which the target is frail but not necessarily easy to hit. In police and military applications, this shell can be used for breaching doors in assaults. The birdshot may cause very serious tissue damage at close range, at around 10m, especially if it hits one in the eyes. The only time any birdshot would be used in military style applications is when the opposition is lightly armored and collateral damage from overpenetration is specifically a concern. In-Game The Birdshot in Phantom Forces has 16 pellets, 2 times the number of pellets of the standard buckshot in the game. However, the spread is also 3 times larger. The maximum damage per pellet of the birdshot is 0.9x times that of the standard buckshot while the minimum damage per pellet is the same as the buckshot. The damage drop off range is slightly better than the buckshot. Depending on the base statistics of the weapon, the effectiveness of this shell varies between weapons. The Birdshot is extremely dangerous at close range as it fires more pellets than the Buckshot. Even with the reduced damage, the potential damage of the Birdshot is still a lot higher than the Buckshot. Furthermore, the increased chance to eliminate multiple opponents with one shell is very effective in crowd control. Nevertheless, at a farther range, the birdshot loses its effectiveness compared to the Buckshot due to the very wide spread. It will require many shots to neutralize an opponent. At 100 studs, only 2 to 3 pellets may actually make contact with the target. At a very long range, the pellets will still retain their damage and are able to kill low health enemies. However, this tactic is not reliable and therefore cannot be called effective. The only exceptions would be the Stevens DB, AA-12 and the Saiga-12 (along with their secondary variants), as the DB can fire a total of 48 pellets in one trigger pull, using its burst firemode, this would ensure a rather reliable 1SK, as only 5 (6 for the Sawed Off) of the 48 pellets need to connect, even beyond the range of a Flechette round. With the Saiga, the ability to discharge many rounds in quick succession can possibly eliminate distant targets with a cloud of Birdshot. The same applies to the AA-12. Note: -Red color signifies inferior to the standard load. -Green color signifies superior to the standard load. -White color signifies the same to the standard load. Usage Birdshot is optimized to the player who wants more punch in their shotgun, especially at close ranges. Due to its improved performance at close range, birdshot is a best fit with an aggressive playstyle, requiring the user to get close to an enemy to ensure a kill. However, a large pellet spread causes it to deal minimal damage from a distance, similar to buckshot. Therefore, it is best to either get closer to the target or switch to a secondary at range. Overall, this attachment rewards the user with the massive damage output in close quarters, but sacrifices ranged performance greatly. Slugs The slug round converts the shot into a single, dense round. History The slug shell is a type of shotgun ammunition that fires only a single projectile. The projectile is simply a large and heavy projectile with very high kinetic energy and causes very serious damage. The slug's projectile is made of materials like lead and frangible metallic alloys. Due to the softer materials used, slugs have several different designs to fill a rifle bore or smoothbore shotgun. Though heavy and powerful, hunting slugs have a very weak piercing power. Therefore, it is mainly used by hunters for hunting big game or by the law enforcement for assault breaching. However, even though they have a relatively low piercing power and thus cannot penetrate armor, the energy they release into a target, will, without doubt, at least incapacitate any target and possibly even outright kill them. A variation of the slug is a sub-caliber, pointed, heavy bullet, made from lead, hardened steel, or other composite materials, acting basically as an oversized rifle bullet. This shell is always saboted mainly to protect the barrel from the hardened projectile, unlike the soft materials used on the normal slugs, and to also ameliorate the trajectory and the velocity of the projectile. Therefore, this shot can only be fired in a rifled bore shotgun. This type of ammunition is used by the military and some law enforcement agencies to disable an armored target or unarmored vehicle, often by destroying a vehicle's engine. This type of slug shot is classed as special ammunition by the military and is often known as the Armor Piercing slug in popular culture. This can be quite accurate when compared to rifle calibers, along with delivering similar performance albeit with a worse range and a more inaccurate projectile. In-Game The Slug in Phantom Forces is a very powerful ammunition type for shotguns. It deals a very high amount of damage and usually results in a 1SK in CQC. However, at longer ranges, slugs drop to 2SKs, and often only headshots can deliver 1SKs. It multiplies the maximum damage by 3 and the minimum damage by 2.5, along with a large x1.8 headshot multiplier and an x1.5 torso hit multiplier. The slug shot also has a very high piercing power, increasing the penetration capability of the shotgun by 6 times, like the flechette shot. However, the slug shot will fire only a single projectile, unlike the multiple projectiles the other shell types fire. The slug shot has a lower ballistic trajectory compared to the conventional rifle bullet, so its muzzle velocity is slower than a rifle and therefore has greater bullet drop, however, it is still faster than most other shot alternatives. Depending on the base statistics of the weapon, the effectiveness of this shell varies between weapons, with semiautomatics and the Stevens DB finding the most use out of them. The KSG is also an effective slug shotgun due to it's firing rate being insanely ludicrous for pump action. Slugs also tint the colour of your weapons tracer from red, which is the default for buckshot and standard ammunition, to magenta. Note: -Red color signifies inferior to the standard load. -Green color signifies superior to the standard load. -White color signifies the same to the standard load. Usage More so than any other ammunition type, the slug round drastically changes the shotgun user's playstyle. With slugs equipped, the shotgun has significantly higher damage and accuracy at range. With proper optics, such as a VCOG or ACOG Scope, a shotgun with slugs could be effectively used as a designated marksman rifle or sniper rifle, providing the user focuses on long range encounters. While slugs can eliminate a target at close quarters with careful aim, the lack of extra pellets of traditional shotgun rounds is a major downside when it comes to short range, as there is less room for error when using this attachment. Therefore, the user would be safer switching to a secondary weapon in these situations. Special care must be taken when aiming. Slugs are best to use at medium to long range. Slugs are accurate enough to enable the player to engage the enemy at medium range, from 100 to 200 studs depending on the range of the shotgun. The stopping power is high enough to enough to eliminate an opponent in 1 or 2 shots. A headshot at close range is a guaranteed kill, and at longer ranges, it may still possibly be a 1SK, and is guaranteed on the Remington 870 and KS-23M. Over 150 studs, the horizontal drop of the slugs become more noticeable, and at over 300 studs, the player can miss a target, even after careful aim with the shotgun, though it is unusual. The slow velocity of the shell also affects the effectiveness of engagement, as the projectile has more drag compared to long range rifles, such as designated marksman rifles and sniper rifles. Therefore, the shotgun's slug shot is very often inferior to these types of weapons at long ranges. Overall, the slugs attachment is a very good attachment, turning shotguns into very versatile weapons that can be effectively used at nearly every range, provided that the user is capable of handling the sheer differences in this shot. With a foothold still in CQC application, Slugs can be useful to a user who would prefer longer range on their weapon, and minimization of pellet spread. Trivia * Different ammunition for shotguns were released in June 2016, as a part of the Summer Update. * This is the only attachment available exclusively to shotguns. ** This was the first set of attachments to be exclusive to a specific gun category. Category:Ammo